The 21st of April marked one year in Ecuador. Anniversaries or birthdays always make me introspective, and this anniversary was no different.
Initially, we only came to "visit" for 7 weeks. Now, 52 weeks later, we're still here! It's amazing to me that so much time has passed. At times, it feels like it is impossible that it has been that long. Other times, last year seems like a lifetime ago.
Much of the time here has been frustrating for me. In Bahrain, we had the advantage that almost everybody spoke English. Here, almost nobody does. So, the first and biggest hurdle I've had to face was learning Spanish. I'm happy to say that I would classify myself now as a good solid intermediate, but I know I still have a long way to go to achieve the fluency I desire. Poco a poco.....
The morning of the 21st, I was thinking back over the past year as I went about my daily activities and then the reality of all we've actually done and accomplished hit me.
Thursday I woke up and said goodbye to Shawn as he headed out for a weekend guy's camping trip with Casa Gabriel. Later, I got up with the kids, waited for our babysitter to get here and then walked to the bus stop closest to our house. I took the bus into Quito, grabbing an empanada from a street vendor along the way. There's this one guy along our bus route who sells the absolute best empanadas I have ever had, so I always try to pick one up when I can.
I changed buses upon arrival to Quito, then took another bus to a second station. There, I crossed a pedestrian bridge to arrive at my Spanish tutor's house. My Spanish tutor and I were covering the subjunctive, one of the most difficult aspects of the Spanish language for many non-Spanish speakers. It, in my opinion, is one of the "final frontiers" of my study of the language, so I am thrilled to be reaching such an important milestone.
Two hours later, I left and walked to yet another bus line and took the bus to Mitad del Mundo. A guy on the bus saw my Spanish book and felt the need to start a conversation with me, trying to convince me that I should be practicing my Spanish instead of listening to my iPod. In reality, I suspect he just wanted to have a conversation with this gringa, but hey, it was good practice. At Mitad del Mundo, I negotiated a price with a taxi driver to take me out to a hotel nearby where I needed to make reservations. Some friends of ours are getting married next weekend and as a wedding gift, we booked them their first night in a hotel.
I made the reservation and paid, then got a brief tour of the hotel. It overlooks the most amazing valley, with beautiful green fields and quaint farms, nestled in the middle of steep Andean mountains. On the way back toward Mitad del Mundo, we passed the mountain I climbed with Casa G and the Douce family a couple months after I first arrived.
The taxi driver took me back into Quito, where I caught a bus to take me back out to our place again. And I started thinking about the last year.
Thursday, I navigated the city and outside-the-city bus system. I had Spanish lessons. I spoke to strangers. I made hotel reservations. I negotiated prices. And I did it ALL in Spanish. To see that really showed me how much good our time here has done as far as growth.
I've gotten over so many of those little things I used to let bother me. God has given me lots of opportunities to step outside my little comfort zone and really feel, taste, live and experience life. Though I have not always been as grateful the last year, I do feel grateful today for all of the hard things God has used here to make my life richer in the end.
Saturday, April 23, 2011
Saturday, February 5, 2011
2010 in Review
I keep a daily planner and each year I go back and take stock of all that happened in a given year. This year, I unfortunately lost my planner somewhere in November, so I don't have as thorough a record of all of our life events. I had to piece together most of 2010 through looking at old Facebook posts and e-mails. To the best of my ability, here is the recap for 2010....
January-March--we started out the year in Bahrain, with things being fairly uncertain. Shawn's company's contract in Bahrain was set to expire in April and we didn't know where we would go or what we would do after that.
March:
22-Shawn's birthday.
24th-I left Bahrain to fly to the States to attend the birth of my niece.
April:
6-My beautiful baby niece, Mary, was born at home.
Shortly after this, Shawn decided that we should go visit family in Ecuador to fulfill our tax requirements. We planned initially on visiting for only 7 weeks.
21-Arrived in Ecuador.
May:
5-My first visit to the girls' house for girls who have been sexually trafficked in Ecuador. In the following months, I visited as I could.
Sometime in May, Shawn received a job offer from a company here, continuing similar work to what he was doing in Bahrain. We decided to stay in Ecuador.
June:
19-Moved into our house in Cumbaya. (Yes, like Cum-ba-ya, My Lord)
29-My brother Henry arrived to visit for two months. The timing of his visit turned out to be quite fortunate because a few days before he arrived, Shawn received notice that he would be leaving for the duration of Henry's visit to work in the States.
July:
4-Shawn left Ecuador for the States, where he worked for two months on a fire-fighting boat at the Deepwater Horizon oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico.
4-We acquired our dogs, a lab and a miniature schnauzer.
8-Shawn arrived at the Deepwater Horizon site.
20-My first day of Ecuadorian driving school, a 3-week class that is a requirement by law. It helped my Spanish, as well as teaching me how to drive a manual car.
27- Claire's 2nd birthday.
August:
3-Passed driving exam--in Spanish!
12-An earthquake happened in Ecuador, which Henry felt. I did not notice anything until he pointed out that all the light fixtures in the house were swaying slightly. My first earthquake!
27-I mowed the lawn for the first time ever in my life.
31-Shawn returned from Deepwater Horizon.
September:
2-Got official Ecuadorian driver's license.
Kai began kindergarten at his new school.
13-Shawn returns from teaching his first class in Ecuador at a jungle oil drilling site.
30-A short coup attempt in Ecuador. Everything was pretty much back to normal the next day.
October:
11-Bought Esmeralda, a 1974 Beetle.
12-13-Had to go to Ipiales, Colombia to renew our visas.
Began regularly visiting the girls' house with my dear friend from Holland, Desi.
November:
1-3-Camping trip with the Douces and the Casa Gabriel boys at the beach in Canoa.
4-My 29th birthday.
15-Kai's 6th birthday.
17-After 5 months without a dryer, we got a new one! A momentous occasion after line drying clothes for all that time.
25-Thanksgiving Dinner with all of our new Ecuador family.
28-National Ecuadorian Census. A very interesting experience during which we were sequestered in our house all day.
December:
8-Quinn's 4th birthday.
13-Attempted armed robbery of Shawn in the street. He managed to wrestle the gun away from the perpetrator and also keep all of the money he had. A harrowing experience to be sure.
24-We hosted a Christmas gathering at our house with all of the Casa G boys, the Douce family and the Ackermanns, another family that works with Casa G.
25-A low-key Christmas.
2010 was a very busy, stressful, challenging, exciting, crazy year. It definitely ended in a different way than I was expecting. Starting the year in the Middle East and then ending up in South America.....definitely not what I had envisioned!
January-March--we started out the year in Bahrain, with things being fairly uncertain. Shawn's company's contract in Bahrain was set to expire in April and we didn't know where we would go or what we would do after that.
March:
22-Shawn's birthday.
24th-I left Bahrain to fly to the States to attend the birth of my niece.
April:
6-My beautiful baby niece, Mary, was born at home.
Shortly after this, Shawn decided that we should go visit family in Ecuador to fulfill our tax requirements. We planned initially on visiting for only 7 weeks.
21-Arrived in Ecuador.
May:
5-My first visit to the girls' house for girls who have been sexually trafficked in Ecuador. In the following months, I visited as I could.
Sometime in May, Shawn received a job offer from a company here, continuing similar work to what he was doing in Bahrain. We decided to stay in Ecuador.
June:
19-Moved into our house in Cumbaya. (Yes, like Cum-ba-ya, My Lord)
29-My brother Henry arrived to visit for two months. The timing of his visit turned out to be quite fortunate because a few days before he arrived, Shawn received notice that he would be leaving for the duration of Henry's visit to work in the States.
July:
4-Shawn left Ecuador for the States, where he worked for two months on a fire-fighting boat at the Deepwater Horizon oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico.
4-We acquired our dogs, a lab and a miniature schnauzer.
8-Shawn arrived at the Deepwater Horizon site.
20-My first day of Ecuadorian driving school, a 3-week class that is a requirement by law. It helped my Spanish, as well as teaching me how to drive a manual car.
27- Claire's 2nd birthday.
August:
3-Passed driving exam--in Spanish!
12-An earthquake happened in Ecuador, which Henry felt. I did not notice anything until he pointed out that all the light fixtures in the house were swaying slightly. My first earthquake!
27-I mowed the lawn for the first time ever in my life.
31-Shawn returned from Deepwater Horizon.
September:
2-Got official Ecuadorian driver's license.
Kai began kindergarten at his new school.
13-Shawn returns from teaching his first class in Ecuador at a jungle oil drilling site.
30-A short coup attempt in Ecuador. Everything was pretty much back to normal the next day.
October:
11-Bought Esmeralda, a 1974 Beetle.
12-13-Had to go to Ipiales, Colombia to renew our visas.
Began regularly visiting the girls' house with my dear friend from Holland, Desi.
November:
1-3-Camping trip with the Douces and the Casa Gabriel boys at the beach in Canoa.
4-My 29th birthday.
15-Kai's 6th birthday.
17-After 5 months without a dryer, we got a new one! A momentous occasion after line drying clothes for all that time.
25-Thanksgiving Dinner with all of our new Ecuador family.
28-National Ecuadorian Census. A very interesting experience during which we were sequestered in our house all day.
December:
8-Quinn's 4th birthday.
13-Attempted armed robbery of Shawn in the street. He managed to wrestle the gun away from the perpetrator and also keep all of the money he had. A harrowing experience to be sure.
24-We hosted a Christmas gathering at our house with all of the Casa G boys, the Douce family and the Ackermanns, another family that works with Casa G.
25-A low-key Christmas.
2010 was a very busy, stressful, challenging, exciting, crazy year. It definitely ended in a different way than I was expecting. Starting the year in the Middle East and then ending up in South America.....definitely not what I had envisioned!
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